Teaching Love of Reading

Reading lets kids and adults live lives they might not live otherwise, to go places without leaving home. Ideas are only limited by the books chosen.

Recently students complained to a teacher that they had to read four books a year. The teacher had gone to Boston Latin School with my daughter. During each summer break they were given a list of books, told to select ten to read during the summer. They were quizzed in September.

That teacher was not sympathetic to her students.

I find I'm better friends with readers. We have so much more to talk about. Especially living in a non-Anglo environment sharing books is as natural as breathing. A good, good friend told me how she was disappointed that she hadn't learned to read the first day of first grade. She is a life-long reader and we share books where our tastes overlap.

I was read to as a child including novels. I still hold the Bobbseys, Old Grandfather Frog, Sammy Blue Jay and Reddy Fox as real friends in my heart.

Even when we had the first TV in town, everyone in my family still read. A book did not replace I Love Lucy, Uncle Miltie, Big Brother Bob Emery, Howdy Doody or vice versa. All had their place.

I read to my daughter. She doesn't remember all the Golden Books I read to her when I was barely able to stay awake myself. I've threatened, even though she is in her 50s, to buy copies of those books, and read them to her on her next visit. 

She does remember Green Eggs and Ham. My attempt to make green eggs did not change her opinion that eggs were to be read about not eaten.

When the book Green Eggs and Ham was left at my father's. She was upset. It took a couple of days for the book to arrive by mail. I realized that I had read it so many times that I could recite it by heart, but I could not recreate the pictures. 

Although I never tried it, I suspected I could have left my child in a bookstore in the morning with a sandwich and thermos and pick her up after work and she might not have noticed I'd left. I could have saved a fortune in childcare.

After my divorce and living with a couple, Friday nights were family nights. We went to Harvard Square, ate at a restaurant, listened to the street musicians and bought whatever we would read during the week.

Books were part of my formal education/informal too. In fourth grade, when we finished our work early, we could read one of the short biographies of famous people. It was because of them I developed my love of history including Eleanor of Aquitaine.

I didn't necessarily love some of the classics. It was much better to walk through the House of Seven Gables than to read it. However, Grapes of Wrath converted me into a reading addict. I will never finish Ulysses including the Cliff Notes. At my age I feel free to admit, I don't like the book. 

A wonderful gift from a friend. A book vase.

I think to teach love of reading, it is also necessary to admit a certain dislike for a book. In disliking a book, it is good for a kid to know why they dislike it: 

• Too much description
• Not enough action
• Unbelievable and/or unlikeable characters
• Confusing
• Boring etc.

They should also know why they like it.

INTERNAL vs. EXTERNAL

Yes, videos, television, movies, etc. can capture an imagination. It is external absorption. The story, facts, description are all provided for you. 

A book is internal. When we read, we absorb the words and take them into our brains. We activate our creativity by changing the words into images. 

I loved Parker's Spenser novels. I pictured Spenser as a wrestler/ boxer, broken face and burly with much muscle. In the TV series, which I also love (and watch when I want to visit Boston from the comfort of my French or Swiss homes), drop dead handsome Robert Urich was Spenser. Avery Brooks, the actor playing Hawk was just as I had imagined him down to the sneer.

How can a teacher or a parent invite a child into the world of books and make them love visiting?

• Role modeling
• Reading to them with books they'll love combined with bedtime cuddles when they are little.
• Make it a game.
• When possible visit what they read about. If they love dinosaurs visit a museum with a dinosaur skeleton.
• Let them select the books.
• Bribery with a favorite dessert, game, visit to wherever they want to go. (Don't say bribery is bad. We are bribed to work with the reward of a salary).

For teachers: what about having the class write a book or short stories as a group and make sure each kids has a copy, in paper or print. If a kid in class is artistic they could do the cover. If they realized what went into a book, they might look for these things in what they read.

For parents: make sure that the books you buy match the child's history. A biography of a loved football player, music star, pilot, etc.  Also encourage a trip to the library, especially if they have a children's reading program.

Books open the world. Kids need to peek into that world. So do adults.